Welcome Back to the Hellmouth
by Perry Christopher
Summary: The night before Buffy's 42nd birthday, the gang comes together, but an old enemy crashes the party. Part One of Five.


The moon is almost full in the purplish January sky as Buffy Summers calmly wanders into the Restfield Cemetery. Her body moves between the gravestones that shimmer momentarily in the pale moonlight, but her mind is elsewhere. She is lost in thought, skimming through memories of the past year and even further beyond. Tomorrow is traditionally intended to be special somehow, lighthearted even. Tomorrow is Buffy's forty-second birthday but tonight her mind is more focused on reflection than anything resembling celebration.

She stops her stroll briefly to sit on the corner of a slightly a-skewed gravestone. The ground beneath her feet is particularly soft as she gazes up at the waning moon. Then, the all too familiar sound of earth being pushed aside finds its way to her ears. Buffy looks down to see a hand anxiously reaching upward from a grave below.

Buffy sighs heavily to herself. "Here we go again," she mutters under breath as she moves her feet aside so the vampire may free it's whole body from the grave and ground that ensnares it.

As the vampire emerges from its tomb, its deep set yellowed eyes focus on Buffy who is still casually perched on the gravestone.

"Slayer," it snarls as it lifts itself to full height to stare down on Buffy.

Buffy sighs heavily again as she meets the vampires gaze. She opens her mouth to acknowledge that she is, in fact The Slayer, but before she can finish her sentence, the vampire beams at her with a big, wide grin. His newly formed fangs glisten as he put his hands on his hips and begins to eagerly speak.

"I just have to say, before we get too deep into this whole kill or be killed moment...that I am actually such a big fan! In fact, I have been following your work since that whole dimensional bleed! It could even be before that. I'd have to think about it."

At the mention of the dimensional bleed, Buffy's mind begins to wander again. This time the image of Giles appears fully in her thoughts. She inhales deeply as strong emotions wrap around her. Then, as quickly as it had come, the memory of Giles is snapped away as the smart watch on her wrist vibrates softly. As Buffy glances down at the electronic display, she is faintly aware of the vampire still gushing with accolades and admiration. The name "Angel" scrolls across the watch. In a polite gesture, Buffy raises her hand to interrupt the overly enamored vampire.

"I need to take this," Buffy says apologetically.

"Oh, of course, no worries," the vampire chirps. "You do your thing. I'm just gonna be over here practicing for when you finish that call. Even though I'm your biggest fan Slayer, I'm going to be the one who ends your life tonight." He turns away and begins practicing his cool new fighting skills.

Buffy smiles softly. "You just might be the one," she says in a slightly sarcastic tone as she turns her head from the vampire to take Angel's call.

"Hello," she says. The smile still lingering on her face.

"Happy Birthday," says Angel. "Or as they say here in Japan, tan-joubi omedetou... or something like that." Angel is unsure of himself . He leans back in his chair. A concerned look likely crosses his face as he looks out at the brilliant skyline of Tokyo.

Buffy's smile deepens momentarily and then disappears as she speaks into the phone. "Just one second."

Buffy doesn't give Angel time to respond as she quickly turns to the vampire who now has his back to her, still practicing for the impending death match. Buffy gently taps him on the shoulder. The vampire turns and locks eyes with Buffy. They both smile, his more excited than hers, and Buffy mouths the word "sorry" before she drives a carefully carved wooden stake into his already dead heart. As the stake perfectly hits its mark, the vampire frowns. Disappointed, he says "what a letdown." His heart implodes and his body follows quickly after, all while turning to dust before it is carried away by the wind.

Buffy watches the transformation as she has so many times before. As the last whisp of dust trails away on the chilly January breeze, Buffy returns to her call. "You're early," she says. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you until tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, I have a rather busy day with a late flight back to New York and a layover in London. I thought it best to call you now to make sure I had the time, you know?" explained Angel.

Even though he thought it might make things awkward, he knew he had to ask her about something they'd both been wondering for years. "By the way, have you heard from Spike at all?"

"No, not since..." Buffy's mind wanders again. The image of Giles appears a second time in her thoughts and she focuses on his involvement with The First Evil. She will never understand what events could have transpired that took Giles in that direction. She only knows that he played with a force that should have been left untouched and as a result a plague of demons had been unleashed.

Angel doesn't seem to notice that Buffy's attention has strayed from the conversation. He continues speaking. "Just so you know and can be on the lookout, there is a gift on its way to you in the mail."

Buffy forces a half smile even though Angel can't see it. "Thanks," she uttered softly. "But I'm not celebrating this year."

"Well, even if you're not, I'm pretty sure you're gonna love it." Angel's voice fills with pride, thinking of the gift he has sent.

Buffy smiles again. "I'll be on the lookout. Thanks for the call. This was a... nice stroll down memory lane." At this point she has acknowledged why they hadn't spoken since her last birthday. She didn't want to get into that argument with him again. "You killed Giles... again," she wants to say, but she doesn't. She just wants to say goodbye.

"Sure thing. I won't wait so long next time," Angel promises, knowing he most likely will wait just as long, as they both say goodbye and end the call.

Buffy stands still for a moment, going over the conversation in her mind. She thinks of Angel and Spike and then Giles. Her mind is a swirl of emotion much like the clouds that are twisting their way around the night sky.

As she makes her way to the exit of the cemetery, she takes one quick last look up at the moon. Her eyes catch the sign that hangs loosely above her. It's reads "Memory Lane." Buffy lightly scoffs, shakes her head, takes a left off Memory Lane and she leaves Restfield Cemetery to go home.

Later that evening...

Willow hurriedly enters the guest's room and walks to the bed where her luggage is laying. She carefully works the combination lock until it clicks and then unzips the suit case. Laying her luggage open, she searches carefully through the contents until she retrieves a delicate gold ring. She lays it in the palm of her hand and admires its simple yet elegant appearance. She smiles as she wonders if actually seeing Marcie for the first time will be all she's imagined it to be.

Turning to leave the room, Willow stops abruptly and the ring falls from her hand to the floor. It seems as though time moves much slower for Willow as the ring is falling.

Looking up, Willow smiles as she sees Buffy standing in front of her. "Buffy, you startled me," she exclaims. "I thought that you were..."

Before Willow can finish her sentence, Buffy interrupts her. "What...scrunched?"

Then from the shadows of the room, the Bringers emerge. Their mutilated eyes do not inhibit their movement as they quickly seize Willow and drag her to the bed. They lay her down. Feebly, Willow struggles against their hold as she opens her mouth to scream for help. Buffy moves to the bed and sits down beside Willow. "You're wasting your breath," Buffy tells her. "No one is going to hear you because my bringers have taken your voice." Despite what Buffy has said, Willow continues to scream without a sound passing her lips.

Willow helplessly pulls against the Bringers hold. Buffy watches Willow struggle and then continues to speak, "You're probably wondering why you can't overpower them." Willow stops trying to scream long enough to hear what she is saying. My bringers magic is stronger than yours.. for just long enough." Willow tries to scream again.

With eyes wide in both fear and confusion, Willow watches as Buffy's features blur and shift into those of Warren Mears. It is now his voice speaking to her.

"Baby, I just know how much you want this," he says as he runs his hand along her body.

Then, just as before, Warren's face blurs and morphs into the face of Adam. Willow watches in disbelief as she struggles in vain against the Bringers.

"You may be a powerful witch" Adam says, void of any emotion. "But you are human, nonetheless. The procedure itself will be unbearable for you. I must warn you it will be more even more painful if you resist me."

It morphs again, this time into Caleb. "… not that I hate the idea of causing you pain." He looks up at her, sporting a sinister smile. "You've already had a taste of my power. Chalky is how you described it, if my memory serves me..."

A shrieking sound pierces Willow's mind as she watches Caleb's form fade away and a twisted form of her lifelong mentor Rupert Giles... The Ripper.. swoops in over her helpless body. "Here's something you've yet to have a taste of," it says as only seconds pass and the horror builds inside of her. She feels the full extent of its power enter her body, mind and soul. Everything goes black.

Downstairs the party continues. The sounds of music, people's voices mingling together and laugher float through the house. Xander, dancing somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the living rooms, hollers out above the bump of the music, "Now this is my kind of party!" He is happy and his smile is big but as he turns away from the crowd to head up the stairs, his smile immediately vanishes.

Standing before him is Willow. Her face is the embodiment of pure devastation as a black tar-like substance seems to bleed from her eyes. Xander is entirely taken aback by Willow's appearance. His body appears frozen in shock and fright and all he can manage is to quietly say her name, "Willow..."

Willow's black eyes appear to focus on nothing as her mouth falls open, unnaturally wide. From the depths of some endless darkness inside of her erupts a scream that is beyond this world. The scream itself seems to come from the furthest reaches of despair, from the very mouths of the countless who have suffered similar horrors.

The pure power of the scream shakes the house and the guests fall to the ground. Their own screams drowned out by the endless screech still bellowing from Willow. Dawn who is pregnant, appears to suffer the worse blow as her body is tossed against the wall like a rag doll. The impact is so hard that the wall cracks and her limp body slumps unmoving to the floor.

Willow raises her hand and waves it casually across her face. With this simple movement, the horrid scream stops and her face and eyes are hers once again. She smiles curiously, and speaks jovially. "That was kinda neat!"

The guests, all shaken and still on the floor, look up in fear and confusion as Willow begins to talk about what is to come, including a cryptic message regarding some thing that will "lay waste to this dimension." Their minds are trying to process the events that have just transpired before their eyes.

Willow's speech is short lived. Her partner, Lt. Marcie Ross, steps forward to diffuse the situation. Willow rolls her eyes. "Screw off," she says as she flicks her hand at Lt. Ross who is then blasted through a wall. She turns to the crowd and allows a smile to creep across her lips as she announces, "The First Evil is back, Buffy... race you home."

Then black billowing clouds of smoke mixed with a red electrical energy envelop Willow. She tilts her head back to look upward. The smile grows even wider as her body is propelled upward, breaking through the ceiling and vanishing into the night sky.

Buffy, who has made her way to Dawn, looks to Xander. They both stare up at the hole left in the ceiling. Buffy asks in a worried tone, "What the hell just happened?" His only reply is a look of grave concern.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the crater that was once Sunnydale, a pillar of smoke forms. Evil Willow emerges from the smoke and makes her way towards the edge of the crater. From behind her appears The First Evil as Caleb. It's power propels Evil Willow off of her feet. She looks down on the on the crater and holds her hands out as if to summon something from it's depths. Using her own power, as well as the first's, and then all of the power that she can summon from the ether, Evil Willow resurrects the town. With the task finished, Willow then descends to the ground. Unwittingly satisfied, she begins to catch her breath as she turns to gaze upon The First. "You're might be the best thing that's ever happened to me." The First as Caleb keeps his gaze on the resurrected town of Sunnydale.

Back at Buffy's House...

What was once a lively and happy party is now pure chaos. Guests run quickly to exit and find safety while others stop to help the injured.

Xander turns to Buffy. "I can have you at the Hellmouth in 90 minutes." he exclaims.

Buffy shakes her head. "Xander, you need to focus on Dawn. She needs to go to the hospital."

"Marcie can take me," Dawn insists.

Buffy shakes her head, "I don't exactly have 90 minutes!"

Andrew interrupts Buffy and Xander's back and forth dialogue. "I'm way ahead of both of you," he informs them as a helicopter appears above the hole in the ceiling left by Evil Willow's dramatic departure.

Buffy retrieves her weapon and instructs Xander to stay behind and gather troops because she knows this is not going to be an easy fight. "Get to the chopper," Andrew shouts. "I've always wanted to say that."

Buffy boards the helicopter and in a short amount of time she is strolling the streets of downtown as she had so many times before. The moment is surreal and she thinks of how she is home again. But before she can get too lost in her reminiscing, Three vampires move upon her. This is no challenge for The Slayer and in a matter of moments all three are just dust blowing away in the wind.

Buffy returns again to her thoughts as she continues her walk. She thinks of what she just witnessed. Her dear friend once again consumed by dark forces. Her thoughts are interrupted by the whirl of a helicopter. Buffy looks up to see six ropes drop down and six Slayers descend to stand with before her.

Buffy notices one of the Slayers is a tall male with very familiar eyes. As she looks closer she recognizes the eyes. "Ash-lynne?" she questions.

The familiar eyes lock with hers and the deep male voice responds. "It's Ash-ton now," he declares.

Buffy pauses for only a moment as she thinks and then realizes how it all makes perfect sense.

Without hesitation, she turns to lead the group of Slayers forward. "Welcome to the Hellmouth." They each fall in line behind her.

Carefully the Slayers make their way through downtown until they arrive at the Bronze Nightclub. Buffy informs everyone that this will be their base of operations. She then instructs them to team up in pairs and secure the perimeter. However, before everyone could break into pairs a there's a loud crash nearby.

"What was that?" Buffy shouted in a concerned voice.

"Should I go take a look?" Ashton asked as he beings to move toward where the sound had originated.

"No, secure the perimeter," Buffy orders as she moves to investigate the noise. Carefully, Buffy makes her way toward the back of the building. She nears the exit door and stops, standing silently for a few moments, listening for any sound of movement on the other side of the door. Hearing none, she gently brings to open the door but only manages to ease the hinges open an inch or two when suddenly a Turok-Han bursts though the door. The fiend throws Buffy to the ground, penning her beneath it. With its deep set eyes and jagged teeth, the Turok-Han wraps its long boney fingers around Buffy's neck. The Slayer uses her lower body to unbalance the creature and throw him off of her. Buffy begins to crawl away, searching to find her weapon with no luck. Within seconds the Turok-Han is on her again. It's brings its claws to her throat in hopes of ripping her neck open. Buffy is able to pull the creatures hands free and turn beneath it. Her eyes gaze up into the evil eyes looking down at her just as the stake end of her weapon is plunged into the Turok-Han's chest and the monster turns to dust. Buffy finally focuses her eyes enough to see Xander standing over her with her weapon in hand.

Xander extends a hand to help Buffy's to her feet. "Looks like I'm just in time," he says with a smile on his face. "Marcie took Dawn to the hospital so I'm here to help in any way I can."

Buffy quickly explains that events that have transpired before his arrival. Just as she finishes Ashton returns. "The perimeter is secure Buffy and we are beginning patrols now," he informs her. Suddenly, a voice sends Buffy out the doors of the bronze and back to her childhood home. It was the voice of her mother, Joyce Summers. "HELP ME, BUFFY!"

Meanwhile at the high school gym...

Evil Willow and The First Evil as Caleb casually converse about the impending apocalypse.

"Right beneath our feet rests the Hellmouth." Willow declares with a smile.

"This," Caleb says as it looks all around them, "this is fine work. I might even promote you to a general of my armies."

Willow lets out a bit of a sigh as she begins to speak. "About that... I really appreciate the change of perspective, but i feel like this is more of one gal operation. I'll be hijacking this apocalypse and claiming the Hellmouth as my own."

Calebs eyes narrow as it glares angrily at Willow" You dare defy me... you ungrateful-"

Before The First can finish its sentence, Evil Willow loses interest. "Bored now," she interupts as she flicks her hand open and watches as the Caleb is vaporized. As this happens, The First Evil as Caleb cries out in agony. Willow gloats, as she says, "now to face off with The Slayer."

At Buffy's old house...

Buffy enters the all too familiar home of her youth. She is surprised and happy to see that all is as she remembers. As she moves about, she stops to stare upon a photo perched on a cabinet. The picture is of her, Dawn and their mother. She realizes that the photo was taken not long before their mother's passing. Getting lost in thought as she stares at her mother's face, Buffy is surprised to hear her mother voice coming from behind her, calling her name.

Quickly turning, eager to see her mother after so long, Buffy is shocked to still hear her mother's voice speaking her name but the sound is coming from Willow.

Willow smiles and asks, "Cool trick, huh?"

With that, the smile fades away and Willow extends her hands out sending a powerful blast of magic into Buffy, throwing Buffy against the cabinet that the photo she was just admiring had sat upon. The picture frame falls to the floor and the glass shatters into dozens of small pieces.

Buffy stares momentarily at the faces beneath the broken glass then she gathers herself and turns to face her friend.

"Willow, I know you dont want to hurt me over this," Buffy begins but before she can get any further, Evil Willow extends her hands out again and sending another blast of energy.

Prepared this time, Buffy is able to dodge the energy burst but that doesn't stop Willow from sending another and another.

As the house begins to fall down around Buffy, she quickly decides to make her exit and she runs towards the back door. Once there, Buffy turns and faces Willow. "Willow, I don't want to do this," Buffy pleads with her friend.

"Alright then ," Evil Willow snaps. "Allow me!" Willow extends her hands out again and a powerful blast of energy sends Buffy out the door and throws her on the back deck.

As Buffy is scrambling to her feet, she notices the grill and propane tank on the deck to her left. Quickly, she slides across the wood and grabs the propane tank with both hands. Buffy tosses the gas filled cylinder into the air just as Willow lets lose another streak of energy. The tank lands perfectly into the stream of energy radiating from Willow's hands. Both women lock eyes as the propane tank explodes in a mammoth ball of fire. Diving out of the way of the flames, Buffy lands on her back and looks up in time to see her childhood home reduced to a pile of rubble.

Buffy stands up, dusting her clothes off. There is no sign of Willow. As Buffy stares into the flames, she thinks of how she can best deal with Willow. She also feels a tinge of sadness, but also a sigh of relief that her home is now gone. Suddenly her satellite phone rings. It's Xander. She activates her headset, and his voice crackles through.

"Hey, I think I may have found a way into the high school," he informs her.

"I'm on my way," Buffy replies as she turns away from the smoldering remains of her former home and heads to Sunnydale High.

Up above somewhere, a pilot flies a helicopter bringing more Slayers to the fray. Suddenly the instruments in front of him begin to spin wildly. He fights to maintain control of the aircraft but is unable to do so. The helicopter nose dives towards the ground. The pilots eyes are wide open but he doesn't have time to scream before the aircraft impacts and explodes into a fireball.

Willow stands nearby watching the helicopter crash. This is her doing and as she admires her handiwork, The First manifests in the image of Caleb to reason with her. Caleb steps from behind a nearby tree.

"I've come to offer you one last chance Willow, one last merge," he says as he moves closer to her. "This time, you'll be given a piece of my being, which is something only one man has ever received."

Willow agrees, and Caleb quickly raises his hands and begins to summon back the power inside of Willow. Falling to her knees weak and traumatized, Willow looks up to now see the The Ripper towering over her. It laughs maniacally.

"I will create an army!" It threatens her. "And then... The Ultimate Being will lay waste to this world!" Willow watches as The Ripper begins to morph in front of her eyes, changing into a snarling, evil demon straight from the pits of hell. She tries to scream at her, but she has nothing left inside of her to call upon. It roars at her, instead, before disappearing.

Unbelieving of all that has happened, Willow pulls herself to her feet and faces the wreckage. She throws her hand in its direction, as if to send magic towards it, but nothing comes of her gesture. Upon losing all faith, and with one final wave of her hand, it is she who disappears.

At the high school...

Buffy draws close to the high school and finds Xander waiting for her outside. He approaches her. He speaks in a serious tone.

"You aren't going to believe what I've found," he begins to tell her. "There's an opening in the floor of the basement where the seal of danthasar use to be! You need to see this."

Together they move quickly into the school and down to the basement. Soon they are standing in an ubervamp boneyard at the site of the Hellmouth were Buffy had battled an army of Turok-Han. They quickly move through the area and to the entrance of a temple that is half buried in the earth.

As they move cautiously into the temple opening, Buffy examines the area. "Whatever this place is," she says with a touch of awe in her voice, "the ubervamps were definitely guarding it."

She hears Xander suddenly stop behind her. He speaks but somehow his voice sounds different. "Or worshipping it," he says.

Buffy turns to face Xander, her face outlined with confusion and a bit of worry. "Huh?" she asks him.

"Welcome to the Temple of Blood and Death!" Xander exclaims with his eyes wide.

"Xander what are you talking about?" Buffy inquires as she takes a cautious step backwards.

From the shadows Buffy spotss a feminine figure steps into the light. Her skin is the silky color of butterscotch and she's adorn in a form fitting red dress that accentuates her curves. She's hideous, with a wide mouth and razor sharp teeth. She smiles at Buffy when she speaks, her voice rough and disturbing. "He's under my control now." The smile then falls from her lips as she turns her eyes to Xander speaks again. "Kill her," she commands.

"Yes, Master." Xander agrees as he lunges towards Buffy. The Slayer pivots and moves out of his reach.

"Xander! Listen to the sound of my voice! You do not want to do this! You have to fight her control!" Buffy tries to reason with Xander as she dodges each of his attacks. Finally, one of his blows hits the mark. Xander strikes Buffy hard across the face. Instinctively, she reacts and and returns the blow. Again and again, she dodges hoping that he will stop his assault. Finally, Buffy spins and smacks Xander in the side of the head. She hears that all too familiar sound of a neck cracking and she watches him fall limply to the ground, his eyes wide open but no life to be seen in them.

Buffy wants to rush to his side, to somehow reverse what has just happened but she knows there is no time. She carefully locks her emotions away and turns toward the demon.

"You are so dead," Buffy declares with anger dripping from each word. She charges toward the demon dressed in red.

"Stop!" The demon commands and Buffy stops suddenly in her tracks.

"You don't want to attack me," the demon orders her. "You want to follow me."

She turns on her boots as she orders Buffy to follow her into her temple. With Buffy trailing close behind, the demon begins to recant to story of her beginnings. "It was the Old Ones who created me before they left this dimension. I was instructed to stay behind and mix my blood with the humans. This was my task alone because should the Old Ones have done so it would have been disgusting. And, so I did as I was told and the new breed became my army."

She throws her hands in the air and turns about dramatically as she speaks. "They worshiped me here in this very temple for thousands of years until it was buried by what you call an earthquake. It was I who created the vampires you kill today. I am the mother of their ancestors... the Turok-Han."

The demon stops her revelry of the past and focuses on Buffy. She snarls as she speaks. "How could I have forgotten to ask your name," the demon says.

Although seriously pissed off, Buffy responds automatically. "My name is Buffy."

The demon laughs. She shrugs her shoulders and again she turns her back to Buffy. As she continues walking and talking , Buffy follows behind. "The prophecy states that the one who was written of will release me and then I will kill her and rise up to rule over the humans."

They now enter a grand throne room. Buffy's eyes stray away from the demon and rest upon a vile of glowing green liquid that appears to float inside of a beautiful alabaster case. The demon notices and answers Buffy's unasked question. "It's called The Essence. It's life itself." She laughs again.

Buffy can even attempt to speak, the demon turns and commands Buffy to stand in front of her. Buffy does so and then the demon takes Buffy's arm carefully into her hand. With a sharp fingernail, she slices into Buffy's flesh making a shallow incision about 2 inches long. The demon then squeezes the arm slightly and watches the bright red blood ooze forth. Lowering her mouth to the wound, she slowly licks the blood from Buffy's flesh.

Immediately she demon realizes the error. She shoves Buffy backwards and snarls at her. "You are not the one!" she screeches.

Buffy, now free from the demon's thrall, smirks are her fearlessly. The demon questions the reason behind Buffy's smirk. "I never much cared for prophecies." Following that comment, the demon scowls at her. Buffy swings her weapon and buries it's blade into the demon's head.

When the demon crumples into a heap on the ground at her feet, Buffy takes a second to look down at the body. She says, "You are so dead." Buffy remembers Xander's lifeless form and instantly has an idea. She turns and races to the case that holds the Essence of Life. She finds the case locked. She hears the demon speak as she turns to face the demon behind her.

"It is locked," the demon is now very angry.

Before Buffy can react, the demon pries the blade from her head. The wound almost instantaneously heals. The demon then huffs as she easily bends Buffy's weapon in half and tosses it aside.

Then before Buffy's eyes, the demon begins to transform into its true, even more hideous self. As it bends and breaks out of its skin, the demon screams, "Now you will see my true form!"

In a matter of moments, Buffy stands facing a large creature with much grizzlier looking teeth, wings of a dragon and the face of a gargoyle. The creature is twice the size of Buffy and it immediately lunges after her. Despite her quick reflexes, the demon strikes Buffy hard in the abdomen and then in her side. Sharp pain envelops her when at least three ribs are damaged. Buffy attempts to roll out of the way despite the pain, but the creature grabs her by her foot and sends her spinning across the room. Then almost instantaneously it is on top of her, clawed hands squeezing her head like a vice. Buffy summons all the strength that is left in her. She jabs her fingers upward and into the creatures eyes. It shrieks in intense pain and falls back from her. Buffy scrambles to retrieve her bent weapon. She leaps onto the back of the creature and with the last bit of strength left in her, she uses the sharp edge of the bent blade to saw through the creature's neck. With one last howl, the creature slumps to the ground and turns to ash. Buffy also falls onto her back. She blinks once and considers that she has no weapon. She blinks again, even slower, and realizes that she has no friends. The third blink is less of a blink, and more of a fade to black. As she loses consciousness, she questions if there is any hope at all. In the very last second before she was out completely, she wondered if she'd be around to face whatever it is the next thing to come would be… and then it went black.


End file.
